Sloth
by CSIBeauty
Summary: While working on a case, Jesse finds a gray stone and soon after begins to act strange. Horatio believes there is a new kind of killer in their midst, and when looking into the lives of their victims, he begins to see a dangerous pattern.
1. Chapter 1

_While working on a case, Jesse finds a gray stone and soon after begins to act strange. Horatio believes there is a new kind of killer in their midst, and when looking into the lives of their victims, he begins to see a pattern that could lead his team into danger._

**Sloth Chapter 1**

It was a bright and sunny day in Miami, and as the sun began to rise the CSI's were on their first case of the day. A man was killed in his home, and his wife found him when she got home from her night shift working at a local hospital. Horatio stood on the front steps of the home looking down at the body of the man in the doorway. The man looked as if he hadn't been out of bed in days. Tom looked up at Horatio after finishing his examination of the body.

"This man has multiple fractures, cuts, bruises, he was beaten very badly." He said.

"So this man was killed out of anger." said Horatio.

"I'm guessing you can count on that," said Tom. "Someone was very angry with this man, but whats unusual is that there is no signs that he even put up a fight."

"Really?" Horatio asked.

"Yes, and people beaten this badly don't usually just sit back and take it," said Tom. "I'll let you know if I find anything else."

"Thank you, Tom" said Horatio. As Tom took the body Jesse, Ryan, and Calleigh came walking up.

"So did I hear that correctly, this man didn't fight back?" Calleigh asked.

"It would appear that way." said Horatio. "Lets look through the house to see if we can find anything that will help determine who became angry with our suspect."

"I'll go talk to the wife." said Frank. "See if there is anything that we should know about our vic."

"You do that Frank." said Horatio.

"It seems that our vic opened the door for our killer." said Calleigh. "Which means that our victim must have trusted whoever it was."

"Well, it seems he trusted the wrong person." said Horatio.

_Authors Note: I know this is a very short first chapter. The others will be longer._


	2. Chapter 2

**Sloth Chapter 2**

Horatio walked into the house where Eric and Ryan had already begun to process the scene.

"Have you found anything yet?" Horatio asked.

"Something strange." said Ryan taking pictures of the house. "This couch has an imprint of a body. Someone would have had to be laying on this couch for a long time in order to make an imprint."

Horatio walked around to look at the couch. There was a perfect imprint of a mans body, and bottles of water and soda sitting round it. Frank walked into the house after speaking to the wife also looking around the scene.

"It appears that our vic spent a lot of time on the couch." said Calleigh also looking at the couch.

"That is what the wife told me." said Frank. "She said that recently he had become increasingly lazy. He stopped going to work and would just lay on the couch and watch tv all day. She said that he wouldn't even be able to walk up to their bedroom so he just slept on the couch."

"What was the reason for him being that tired?" Calleigh asked.

"The wife doesn't know." Frank replied. "She said they had been to the doctor several times to check his thyroid, but there had never been anything wrong. He was a perfectly healthy man."

"Thats strange behavior for a perfectly healthy man." said Horatio.

"Did she mention any enemies that he may have had?" Ryan asked.

"She said that there was nobody that would do this to her husband, but she did mention that there was a family friend who had been acting strange too." said Frank. "She mentioned that he would get angry at any even the slightest thing. She said he had been over a couple days ago, and got angry at her because she didn't have any tea in the house."

"That is strange." said Horatio. "What is the name of our suspect?"

"Byron Jenkins," said Frank.

"Lets talk to Mr. Jenkins." said Horatio. "Maybe he can tell us why he has been so angry lately."

Horatio and Frank left as Ryan, Jesse, and Calleigh continued to examine their crime scene. Calleigh began to look at the items on the table next to the couch. There were papers from snack foods, and a cell phone. She picked up the phone and opened it to see who was the last to call him. She scrolled through the phone until she got to the most recently received calls.

"It looks like Mr. Jenkins is that last person to talk to our vic." said Calleigh.

"Well right now it seems that our vic's friend is the likely killer." said Ryan.

"Yeah, but don't you think it's kinda strange for a man to just sit back while his friend beats him to death. Something here doesn't add up," said Jesse. "Even if it was unexpected you would think his first reaction would be to try to block the blows."

"Thats true," said Calleigh. "His wife did say he had been especially tired lately."

"Too tired to defend his own life?" Ryan asked. "Even being that tired, you would think he would at least have tried to block some of the blows to his face."

Jesse continued looking around the door leading to the kitchen. He noticed a small gray stone on the floor. He bent down to pick it up and when it touched him there was a small light and it was gone. He stood up looking around the area, but the stone was nowhere to be found.

"Jesse, did you find something?" Ryan asked.

"No, it's nothing," he replied. "We had better get all this stuff back to the lab."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sloth Chapter 3**

Horatio and Frank picked up Byron Jenkins at his home and before they went in to talk to him. One of the officers mentioned that he had attacked them as they picked him up. Two officers ended up in the hospital. Horatio and Frank walked into the room and Mr. Jenkins stood up.

"I didn't do anything," he said immediately.

"Calm down, we haven't accused you of anything yet." said Frank.

"You attacked two of my officers when they went to pick you up," said Horatio. "They are both getting checked out at the hospital. Why would you do that?"

"I don't belong here, I have things to do, and I don't have time for this." he said standing up.

"Sit down," said Frank. "Your not going anywhere."

"I won't let you do this," he yelled. "I'm a citizen of Miamia and I have rights."

"We haven't even asked you about the death of your friend yet." said Frank. "And if you turned out to be the one who killed him, you can kiss your rights goodbye."

"It was his fault he died," said Byron. "We were supposed to go out today for our annual guys day out, but he was too tired. All he ever did is sit on that couch and watch tv. Thats no way to live."

"So you killed him?" Frank asked.

"He didn't deserve the life he had," Byron replied. "He had a beautiful wife, a good job, and great friends. He took it all for granted. I did him a favor. He was just going to die on that couch anyway."

"Why didn't your buddy fight back?" Frank asked.

"Please he could barely stand up long enough to answer the door." said Byron. "He was a lazy bum and he deserved to die."

"Take him." said Horatio, to the officer standing next to the door.

"I don't think so," said Byron, punching the cop who was coming toward him. Frank ran up behind him and just dodged another punch. Frank tackled him to the ground and cuffed him as the other officer got up off the ground with a bloody nose. Byron fought against the cop as he was being escorted out of the room. It took three cops to get him down to booking and he fought the whole way.

"Somethings wrong here Horatio," said Frank after he was gone.

"I agree," Horatio replied. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, he kills his friend because he was too tired to hang out with him," said Frank. "He doesn't even seem sorry or even understand that what he did was wrong."

"Lets see if Ryan, Jesse, and Calleigh have found anything that may give us a clue to how all of this started," said Horatio leaving the room with Frank.

Horatio walked into the lab where Calleigh and Ryan were looking over some of their items from the couch area. It looked as if candy wrappers and soda cans were covering the entire desk.

"Did you find anything?" Horatio asked.

"Only wrappers from about every type of snack food you could think of," said Ryan. "It's almost like this guy lived on snack food."

"Our vic's friend confessed to the murder," said Horatio.

"What? This fast?" Calleigh asked.

"Yes, but there is something else going on," said Frank. "Our killer says that he killed his friend because he was too tired to hang out. Not to mention that he tried to take a few more cops out on his way to booking."

"This doesn't make any sense," said Ryan.

"Thats what I am thinking," said Horatio. "It feels like there is something bigger going on here, but we just haven't found it yet."

"Yeah," said Calleigh. "But nothing here seems to tell us what that is."

"Hey," said Jesse walking into the room yawning. "Tom processed the body, and our vic had no drugs in his system, no physical problems other than what happened when he was beaten." He yawned again.

"Are you alright, Jesse?" Horatio asked.

"I'm fine," he said. "Just a little tired."


	4. Chapter 4

**Sloth Chapter 4**

"Horatio," said Frank, looking at his cell phone. "We have another victim. Shes a female who was found stabbed to death in the kictchen by her brother. Nothing strange yet, but I haven't visited the crime scene yet."

"Well, lets head over there," said Horatio. "Maybe we will find a connection between both of these murders."

When they got to the house they entered the kitchen and noticed that their victim was stabbed many times and blood covered the floor. It almost seemed like a massacre. It was obvious that the woman had bled to death."

"Tom, how many stab wounds?" Horatio asked as he carefully bent over the body.

"If I were to take a guess, I'd say about 40," said Tom. "I don't think I need to tell you how this girl died."

"I guess not," said Horatio looking around the room. There were empty cake boxes, boxes of chocolate, and several gallons of milk. It looked as if the young woman was having some kind of party at the time of her death. Yet there was no one else around.

"There is something strange about this, Horatio," said Tom. "This girl was not only covered in blood, but she is also covered in chocolate. A lot of chocolate."

"Chocolate?" Horatio asked. "That might explain all of these containers, but I can't imagine this young girl eating all of this by herself."

"I'll say, but there was nobody else here, and this girl is covered with chocolate from head to toe," said Tom.

"Thanks you, Tom," said Horatio. He watched him walk out the door and then back to the scene.

"H," came a voice behind him. He turned around and Ryan was in the doorway. "I don't think Jesse should be working today."

"Why do you say that?" Horatio asked.

"Calleigh noticed that Jesse seemed to tired to drive so she offered, but he slept the whole way here," said Ryan. "And Calleigh is trying to wake him up now, but he doesn't seem with it. He almost seems too tired to do anything."

"Where are they?" Horatio asked, not even trying to hide the worry in his eyes. The hummer was parked out front and he could see Calleigh trying to shake Jesse awake. However he barely seemed to respond to her. Horatio walked over to the passenger side door.

"Jesse?" Horatio said when he got to the hummer. Jesse barely opened his eyes and looked up at Horatio. "I think it would be best if you took the day off."

"What about the case?" He asked sleepily closing his eyes again.

"You don't need to worry about that, I'll have Calleigh take you home and you can come back in tomorrow when you've rested," Horatio replied.

"Alright," he said yawning and falling back asleep.

"Calleigh, go ahead and take him home," said Horatio. "Me and Ryan will process the scene."

"Okay," she said giving Horatio a worried glance as she climbed back into the hummer. Horatio turned around and stared at the outside of their murdered womans house, trying not to think about the similarities between his first victim and one of his CSI's.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sloth Chapter 5**

When the hummer was out of sight Horatio walked into the house where Frank had just got done talking to the girls family. Ryan began to take pictures and process the scene.

"Ryan," said Horatio. He looked up. "Will you call Walter in for me?"

"Sure Horatio," he replied.

"We may need the extra help on this one with Jesse out of the picture," said Horatio. "I'm sure he won't mind picking up some extra hours."

Frank walked up to Horatio.

"Whats going on with Jesse now?" Frank asked.

"I don't know, but right now I want to focus on finding our young ladies killer," Horatio replied.

"I just talked to most of the vic's family, but the strange thing is that her sister barged out early this morning for no apparent reason," said Frank. "The mother said that our vic, Stephanie, was usually eating well, and she was very active until recently."

"She started eating more?" Horatio asked.

"Yeah, and more recently she just eats chocolate. They said that it was hard to get her away from the kitchen," said Frank.

"So that would explain why she was covered in chocolate," said Horatio. "But it doesn't explain why a perfectly healthy active young girl began eating nothing but chocolate."

"Another strange murder," said Frank. "Is it just me or do these peoples personalities seem to be changing drastically?"

"It would appear that way," said Horatio.

"Do you think the sister who barged out had anything to do with it?" Ryan asked, walking up to the two.

"If we pick her up, I'm sure she will tell us." said Horatio. "Did you get a hold of Walter?"

"Yeah, he will be at the lab as soon as he can," said Ryan.

"Good," Horatio replied. "That leaves our victims sister."

"The first thing we have to do is find her." said Frank. "We are not sure how difficult that will be. She may be on the run from something."

"Have the family provide us with a picture and we will have a team search for her," said Horatio. "If this girl is anything like our last killer, then she will fight back when we try to take her in."

"I'll talk to the family," said Frank.

"Have you found anything?" Horatio asked Ryan.

"The murder weapon." said Ryan holding up a bloody knife. "A kitchen knife. It also looks like there is blood on the handle."

"So our killer wasn't careful," Horatio stated. "Another crime of passion from the looks of the body. It makes it easy to make a mistake."

"Get that to Valera as soon as you can," said Horatio. His phone rang and he picked it up. "Horatio." "Really? I'll meet you at the lab." said Horatio.

"What is it?" Ryan asked.

"The other daughter just showed up. She didn't put up a fight to come in, but her boyfriend did," said Horatio.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sloth Chapter 6**

Horatio got to the lab where Frank was waiting to interrogate their suspects. He walked up to Horatio and nodded toward the girl sitting on the bench several feet away.

"That girl has been acting really strange," said Frank. "But not like our last guy."

"How do you mean?" he asked.

"She asked why her boyfriend got to go first," said Frank. "And then started complaining about how she never gets to go first."

"That is unusual," said Horatio. "Most people who come in here are not that eager to get interviewed."

He walked over to the girl who just looked up at him. "How are you doing?"

"Do you actually care?" she asked.

"Of course. You just lost your sister," he said.

"So thats what this is about," she said. "It's never about me. She always gets the attention. Even when she's dead."

"Did you get angry at your sister for that?" he asked.

"No, I just always feel left out," she said. "It's not fair. Everyone pays more attention to her. Even my boyfriend, it's just not fair."

"How is that?" he asked.

"She had been eating a lot of chocolate this morning and when she wouldn't give him a piece he got really angry," she said. "He never pays that much attention to me. Not even over the little things."

She looked at her boyfriend in the room in a daze.

Horatio looked back at Frank who shrugged. Horatio motioned for Frank to follow him in the room to talk to the boy. They entered the room and the young boy looked up.

"Whatever she told you it's all lies," he said. "She doesn't know what she's talking about."

"Well she tells us you got mad at her sister because she wouldn't give you a piece of chocolate," said Frank. "Seems like such a small thing to get angry about."

"That cow, ate chocolate all day every day," he said angry. "She would never share she would barely look up at you when you walked in the door. Thats a terrible way to live anyway. I just put her out of her misery."

"So you admit you killed her," said Horatio.

"Yeah," he said. "She deserved what she got. She told me the other day that she didn't like the way I treated her sister. Well I guess her opinions don't matter now. I always get what I want and I wanted her dead."

"Get him out of here," said Frank. After he left the room with the officer Frank looked at Horatio. "This is all too easy. No one just confesses to murder this easily."

"I agree," said Horatio. "The killers never actually confess to the killing until they are caught. There is something I don't like about this."

"What do you mean?" Frank asked.

"Why would these people suddenly kill without any reason," said Horatio thinking. "They are just killing out of spur of the moment, nothing thought out about it. I don't think these people were in complete control of what they were doing."

"You think there is a third party responsible?" Frank asked.

"I do," said Horatio. "All of our victims and suspects have been acting strange, and I think there is someone behind it."

"So what do we do know?" Frank asked.

"Lets call it a day, and hit back on this tomorrow," said Horatio. "I'll see what Ryan has before I leave."

Frank waved goodbye as Horatio went to DNA to see what Ryan had found.

"The DNA's male, probably the kid that confessed." said Ryan as Horatio walked in.

"Lets call it a day," said Horatio. "We will pick up on all of this tomorrow. I have a feeling that this isn't the end of our strange murders."

"Alright," said Ryan. Horatio left as Ryan picked up his stuff. He noticed a blue stone sitting on the table. He looked back to the door but no one was there. He picked it up and with a burst of blue light it was gone. He looked around but it was no where to be seen. He shrugged it off and headed out of the lab.


End file.
